How Much Vacation Time is Needed to Recharge

Western culture, especially American culture, has always valued hard work and has, more or less, compelled workers, either by financial incentives or peer pressure, to skip their vacation days and spend as much of their time as possible working.

While this was shown to produce a short-term boost regarding productivity, the health risks as well as the steep drop in work output over the mid and long-term, definitely outweigh the benefits. 

There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and some major companies are beginning to shift their perspective on how they view vacation time. Netflix, LinkedIn, General Electric, Hubspot, Virgin Group, and Grubhub, have all decided to give their employees ‘unlimited’ or semi-unlimited vacation time. There are certain caveats to these ‘limitless’ vacation days, obviously, and if this is a sound strategy, only time will tell. 

The Benefits of Time Off

Going on vacation is, indeed, an appealing scenario. You get to see more of your country or more of the world, or you can spend some precious time with friends and family. But aside from these, there are other benefits that time off can bring. 

Less Stress

Studies have consistently shown that going on vacation helps to relieve stress and combat the symptoms of depression. These beneficial symptoms were also shown to persist even after several weeks after the holiday ended. 

Prevents Burnouts

Every person working in a high-stress environment, be it a managerial position or not, is susceptible to burnout. Long and consistent hours in this environment will eventually lead to your mind simply ‘shutting off,’ not being able to concentrate on anything and becoming apathetic and resentful towards your work, in the process. Vacations bring a much-welcomed change of pace and a break from that high-stress setting.

Increased Productivity

Last but not least, is the issue of increased productivity following a vacation. Though it may take a day or two to recoup, studies have shown that for every additional 10 hours of leave, the overall productivity increases by about 8%. 

The Ideal Length of a Vacation

There are generally two schools of thought regarding the issue. While some believe that it’s better to take frequent or semi-frequent short vacations (one or two days) and spread them throughout the year, others consider to clump them all together and take a single but longer one. Probably the best solution is to have a little bit of both. 

Figuring out the exact ideal length of a vacation, on the other hand, may seem like something that differs from one person to the next but as it turns out, a group of Finnish researchers may have figured out a timeframe.   

As it turns out, the ‘sweet spot’ is eight days. In their study, they’ve concluded that people reach peak happiness during their 8th day away from work, giving them time to unwind and relax in the meantime. 

Conclusion

Taking regular time off from work has clear benefits for both you and the company you work for. And while the frequency at which you should consider these “week and a bit” vacations depends on factors such as the nature and the stress levels of work, the fact that you should take them, remains.